Paisley sincere about deal - Ahern
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said tonight he was confident the Rev Ian Paisley was sincere about striking a deal with republicans.
He said he could understand the rationale behind the Democratic Unionists’ insistence that IRA decommissioning is photographed but stressed the proposals were not designed to embarrass anyone.
“I have no doubt that Dr Paisley is of the mind that if the circumstances are right, and if the clarifications of the issues lead to acts of completion, that he wants to move ahead,” he said.
After a full day’s negotiations with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr Ahern, the DUP and Sinn Féin, it has been tentatively suggested that if a deal is struck within the coming days, devolved government could be revived in Northern Ireland by March.
Mr Ahern warned that while the DUP’s wish to see IRA disarmament had to be accommodated, to go beyond a March deadline would be unreasonable.
“It’s over two and a half months now since the Leeds Castle talks, five months since the Lancaster House meeting,” he said. “March is a long time away. Going longer than that would create difficulties for everybody.”
The Taoiseach said it was clear that not only did the DUP want acts of completion but it wanted everyone to understand that it had happened.
“(Mr Paisley) emphasised that none of this was designed in any way to be linked to embarrassing people or asking people to step across the line,” he said.
“The IRA would not be in this position if they did not want to be, Sinn Féin would not be asking them if they didn’t want to be. It’s linked to transparency for the public at large.”
It is understood Mr Paisley has given Mr Blair and Mr Ahern a six-page document, seeking clarification on 40 points in the proposals they put to the DUP and Sinn Féin last week to revive power sharing.
Mr Ahern told RTE News he was conscious the hardline DUP leader was working towards a very different position from where he had stood for four decades.
“Of course that isn’t easy,” he said. “And neither do I expect him to change his mind overnight on these issues. He wants to be certain, he wants to move forward in the confidence that this is the right thing for the people he represents.
“But in terms of the sincerity of getting to where we all want to get, Ian Paisley wants to do that.”
Mr Ahern admitted the process was moving slower than he would have liked but said that was understandable because the DUP had not been a part of the process until this year.
